Oklahoma Football Notebook: Sorting Out The Playoff Scenarios

With one more week left in the regular season, several Oklahoma teams are still sorting out playoff possibilities.

Here are the scenarios for those schools …

4A-4

The four teams moving on to next week have already been decided, as Cascia Hall, Fort Gibson, Broken Bow and Sallisaw will be involved in the postseason. The seeds will be determined on Friday when Broken Bow goes to Cascia Hall while Sallisaw heads to Fort Gibson.

Cascia Hall clinches the No. 1 seed with a win, while a loss and Sallisaw win drops the Commandos to the No. 2 seed. If Broken Bow wins, the Savages get the top seed.

Sallisaw can move into the No. 2 seed by beating Fort Gibson and Cascia Hall beating Broken Bow, forcing a three-way tie for second between Sallisaw, Fort Gibson and Broken Bow, but only if the Black Diamonds can win by at least 14 points.

Currently, Fort Gibson has 60 tiebreaker points, while Broken Bow has 45 and Sallisaw 33. Sallisaw will be the No. 3 seed with a win and a Broken Bow win and could be the No. 3 with a win and Cascia Hall win, depending on the points system.

If Sallisaw loses on Friday, the Black Diamonds are locked into the No. 4 seed and will have to open the playoffs next week at 4A-3 top seed and defending 4A champion Wagoner.

3A-8

Roland, Stigler, Spiro and Checotah are already assured of playoff berths. Currently, Roland, Stigler and Checotah share first place with identical 5-1 records. This week, Roland heads to Valliant while Stigler goes to Idabel and Checotah travels to Spiro.

Roland can get the No. 1 seed with a win and an Idabel win by virtue of the Rangers’ head-to-head win against Checotah. The Rangers may get the No. 2 seed with a win and Spiro beating Checotah, but if Stigler also wins, the Panthers get the No. 1 seed because they own the tiebreaker against Roland.

Stigler can get the No. 2 seed with a win by at least 11 points and a Checotah win due to Checotah’s head-to-head win against the Panthers.

A Roland loss drops the Rangers to the No. 3 seed regardless of the Checotah-Spiro outcome since Roland defeated Spiro last week. Spiro is the No. 4 seed but can move up to the No. 3 seed with a win against Checotah as well as wins by Roland and Stigler.

The Bulldogs can even land the No. 2 seed with a win by at least 15 points along with Roland losing by at least two points and Stigler losing by at least six points.

2A-6

With its win last week against Hartshorne, undefeated Vian has already clinched at least a share of the district title and will be the No. 1 seed going into next week while Hartshorne is locked in as the No. 2 seed.

At the moment, Panama stands all alone in third place and is the No. 3 seed, but the Razorbacks have to play Vian this Friday. However, since the Razorbacks beat Pocola last week, Panama is still the No. 3 seed regardless of how the Razorbacks do against Vian as long as Wilburton loses to Hartshorne.

A Wilburton win, however, along with a Panama loss, forces a three-way tie for third between Panama, Pocola and Wilburton. Head to head, Wilburton beat Panama while Pocola beat Wilburton, so tiebreaker points may be the determining factor.

Currently, Panama has minus-17 points, Pocola is minus-5 and Wilburton is minus-16. Pocola is already through with its district schedule, so a Wilburton loss puts the Indians into the No. 4 seed. The Indians are also assured of a playoff spot if Panama upends Vian no matter what Wilburton does against Hartshorne.

A-6

There’s a four-way tie atop this district between Central, Talihina, Savanna and Gore. Those four teams will be involved with one another this week as Central takes on Savanna while Talihina faces Gore.

Central can take the No. 1 seed with a win and a Gore win, since the Tigers beat the Pirates. Gore gets the No. 1 seed with a win and a Savanna win. A Central win and a Talihina win means Talihina gets the No. 1 seed while Central gets No. 2 by virtue of Talihina winning the head-to-head matchup.

If the Tigers lose, they get the No. 3 seed if Talihina beats Gore, but if the Tigers lose and Gore beats Talihina, Central drops to the No. 4 seed.

B-4

The big game this week is Wetumka, currently all alone in first place, traveling to second-place Keota, which has already clinched a playoff spot regardless. The winner of this game gets the No. 1 playoff seed.

Keota gets the No. 2 seed with a loss and a Davenport loss to Gans. The Lions can also get the No. 2 seed if they lose and Dewar defeats Weleetka and Davenport beats Gans because of tiebreaker points.

Otherwise, Keota drops to No. 3 with a loss and wins by Davenport and Weleetka.

Area schools Poteau, Muldrow, Heavener, Gans, Arkoma and Bokoshe have already been eliminated from playoff contention.